November 29, 2018
Rev. Thomas J. Ertle, O.P. ’53, ’82G, & ’84Hon. remembered for extraordinary ministry, zeal
Rev. Thomas Jordan Ertle, O.P. ’53, ’82G, & ’84Hon., a former College chaplain who served his alma mater in multiple roles for 22 years, died on Nov. 23, 2018, at the home of his nieces in Sea Girt, N.J., following a lengthy illness.
A Dominican priest for 62 years, Father Ertle was a member of the Order of Preachers of the Province of St. Joseph and of the Dominican community at PC. His powerfully impactful pastoral life touched not only students and other members of the College community, but also extended well into the community, including the parish and Dominican provincial levels. Forever upbeat, he always responded “never better” to those who inquired of his well-being.
“I want to say how blessed I’ve been. I’ve had a great priesthood,” he said in 2011.
A native of New Jersey, Father Ertle primarily served PC as a chaplain and in Campus Ministry. During his first assignment at PC, from 1979 to 1984, he was College chaplain for the first three years, prior of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas from 1981 to 1984, and a member of the PC Corporation. While serving as College chaplain, he was renowned for reaching out to students as they crossed campus by selling hot dogs from a push cart near Aquinas Hall.
He returned to the College in 1998, again working in several pastoral capacities. He served as assistant chaplain to the student-athletes from 1998 to 2001, acting chaplain in 2000 and 2001, and assistant chaplain from 2001 to 2015. His other associations with the College included serving on the PC Corporation from 1982 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1993 as Corporation chair, as well as on the Board of Trustees in 1992 and 1993. He also was moderator of the Pastoral Council from 1979 to 1982 and of the Sailing Club in 1984 and 1985.
Fluent in American Sign Language, Father Ertle spent seven years serving the local community by celebrating a weekly signed Mass at St. Ann Church in Providence.
PC awarded Father Ertle an honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology degree in 1984. He was the recipient of the National Alumni Association’s Bishop Harkins Award in 1991 and the School of Continuing Education Spirit of Giving Award in 2004. In 2008, he was presented the Rev. Philip A. Smith, O.P. Award, given to those whose contributions have made a significant impact in furthering the College’s mission. He also was inducted into Eta Lambda, PC’s chapter of Alpha Sigma Lambda, the national adult continuing education honor society, in 2001.
Other recognitions included an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y., in 1995 and a knighthood in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem in 2002.
In addition, two scholarships were established in Father Ertle’s honor. Alfred Lamy ’53 and his family — wife Barbara and children Marianne Lamy Zinzarella ’85, Rick Lamy ’81, and Patti Lamy Smolley — created the Rev. Thomas J. Ertle, O.P. Scholarship. It is awarded to students with financial need, in particular students who are hearing impaired or have another physical disability.
The Rev. Thomas J. Ertle, O.P. Campus Ministry Fund, in support of Campus Ministry, was established by M. Regina McLean ’80 & ’15P and John McLean ’15P.
Father Ertle was extraordinary in his humility, gentleness, kindness, and compassion. Always conforming himself to the Cross of Jesus, he was faithful and forceful in his preaching of Christ risen from the dead. He loved his family, his Dominican brothers, the Church, and PC’s students, faculty, and staff.
Born Thomas Joseph Ertle in Jersey City, N.J., on Sept. 6, 1927, the second son of the late John Harry Ertle and Mae (Jennings) Ertle, he attended Sacred Heart Elementary School and St. Michael’s High School in Jersey City, graduating in 1946. A year later, he entered the pre-ecclesiastical program at PC, receiving a bachelor’s degree in ecclesiastical studies in 1953. Father Ertle earned a second degree from PC, a master’s in religious studies, in 1982.
He entered the novitiate of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph at St. Rose Priory, Springfield, Ky., in 1949, receiving the religious name Jordan. He made his first profession of vows there on Sept. 15, 1950.
His philosophical studies took place at St. Rose Priory in 1950 and 1951 and at St. Joseph’s Priory in Somerset, Ohio, from 1951 to 1953. He made his solemn profession of religious vows at the Priory of the Immaculate Conception/Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15, 1953, at which time he began his theological studies there, receiving his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology three years later.
He was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 1956, at St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, D.C., by Most. Rev. Edward Celestine Daly, O.P., bishop of Des Moines, Iowa. He then spent another year studying in Washington.
Father Ertle’s first assignment was to St. Antoninus Priory in Newark, N.J., where he was assistant pastor from 1957 to 1964 and director of St. Antoninus Parish School from 1960 to 1964. After serving as prior and pastor of St. Dominic’s Priory in Youngstown, Ohio, from 1964 to 1970, he returned to St. Antoninus Priory, first as sub-prior and pastor for a year, then as prior and pastor for three years. From 1974 to 1979, while assigned to Sacred Heart Priory in Jersey City, he was a member of the Province of St. Joseph “Preaching Band,” going weekly from parish to parish and proclaiming the Good News.
After ministering at PC from 1979 to 1984, Father Ertle was assigned to St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York City for the next nine years. From 1984 until 1988, he served as socius to the prior provincial and vicar provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. He then served as prior provincial from 1988 until 1993, also serving as vice chancellor of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Father Ertle then served as chaplain of Molloy College from 1993 to 1995 and as superior and pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Rectory in Zanesville, Ohio, from 1995 to 1998.
Father Ertle had several other notable educational, civic, and religious affiliations. Those included Knights of Columbus, City of Newark Mayor’s Council for Urban Affairs, consultor with the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, and the Dominican Leadership Conference. He was co-author of the Dominican Rosary Novena Book (Dominican Friars, 1964 and 1990).
Father Ertle was pre-deceased by his parents and by his brother, J. Harry Ertle, who died on Sept. 13, 2018. He is survived by two nieces, Deidre Anne Ertle ’76 and Nadine Ertle Sullivan ’80, and a great-nephew, John Ertle Sullivan ’19.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for Father Ertle at 11:15 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 29, in St. Dominic Chapel at PC. He then will be laid to rest in the Dominican Friars’ Cemetery on campus.
Donations in his memory may be made to Providence College, Office of Institutional Advancement, 1 Cunningham Square, Providence, RI 02918, for the Rev. Thomas J. Ertle, O.P. Scholarship or for the Rev. Thomas J. Ertle, O.P. Campus Ministry Fund.
